Thanks for posting that, bigbro! Is that from the Dallas Morning News? I don't recall coming across that article. Great picture, too. Looks like the Singapore room. Gotta love the head waiter on the right talking on the phone in his "I'm very busy" pose. And how about those Dallas fashions!

Oh, and I love this sentence:
"Bright green carpets and furniture upholstery in this room are softened to blue-green appearance by the lighting from assorted many-colored balloons."

Balloons????

I also have more to add to this thread and will do so eventually.
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Not sure if this is the right place to post the question but this is the only Steve Crane restaurant posting in this category.

I'm looking for Steve Crane restaurant pictures or drink menus partly to see what drinks go to what mugs. The main one I can never find a picture or a reference of is the famous Steve Crane Bird Bowl (or even the Steve Crane Scorpion bowl). Are there any pictures of these bowls on any menus or photos?

For that matter, I think it would be great if someone could start a posting for either the Beverly Hills Luau or the Kon Tiki restaurants! (and no, I am not the right person for that)

In the Ports O' Call drink menu I have, all of the drinks are pictured in glassware (or pineapples or coconuts). No Bird Bowls or mugs. Anyone have a drink menu from Kon Tiki Ports of the Luau?
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This image I found here on the Tiki Central gallery. You can also find it on pages 158-159 of 'The Book of Tiki'. It's from the Luau but I'm pretty sure this was also used at the Kon Tiki Ports locations.

It shows Steve's Rum Barrel (drink = Rum Barrel), The War Club Mug (drink = ?), Tongue Mug (drink = ?), and the Ku Mug (drink = War God). However, again no pics of the Coconut Mug, the Scorpion Bowl, and The Bird Bowl.

Sometimes I wonder if the bird bowl was used for Chicken Soup... a ferocious chicken soup of course!

Thanks Kenike for all the great material. You are right, when lining it all up like that, it does seem like they were almost purposely avoiding Tiki imagery. The emphasis seems to have been on "Exotica".

And the articles drive home again what I mentioned in the BOT: How the romantic musings about Saigon in the early 60s became so ironically wrong by the late 60s, this really being a perfect metaphor for the break between the Tiki generation and its Vietnam war protesting children.

And that souvenir swizzle/matchbook/coaster menu is still one of my favorite pieces of Tiki/Lounge ephemera that I covet.

it does seem like they were almost purposely avoiding Tiki imagery. The emphasis seems to have been on "Exotica".

Maybe it was because of the 4 dining room concept...they didn't want patrons to think it was ALL "tiki" or Polynesian. That logo implies a ship being tied to a mooring somewhere, and the traveler could pick one of four destinations.

Interesting then is the fact that the later restaurants with the same concept all became "Kon Tiki Ports." Perhaps realizing that tiki was still sort of hip, they decided to incorporate tiki into the restaurant name and all the goodies. Ports O' Call never made that change since they were already well known and successful, but their fate would have been sealed regardless.

You may have noticed that the menu says that you have to supply your own rum or "other potent juices", for the bartenders to use. "Those who boarded unprepared will find a bountiful supply available at the ship's stores of our goodly flagship, the White Cloud." In other words, they had a convenient on-premises liquor store. What was up with that?
At that time (1960's), Texas did not allow the sale of liquor by the drink. You had to buy liquor by the bottle at a liquor store. You brought your own bottle of hooch to a restaurant, which sold "set-ups" - a mixed drink without any liquor added, yet. You added the final ingredient, yourself, or you could give the bartender your bottle(s) to use, in the preparation of your drink.
In 1971, Texas changed the law. Dallas began allowing restaurants to sell drinks in 1972 - in certain designated "wet" areas. Thats when the restaurant boom really took off, in Dallas.

At the Hukilau last June there were some artists renderings on display at the Mai Kai on Sunday. Unfortunately, I was already on my way back to TX but Koitiki was kind enough to take a few pictures:

Bora Boris alerted me to this picture buried in the Dallas Library photo archives. Great pic of the Saigon Room

A month or two ago there was a drink menu on Ebay that I’ve never seen before. I lost the auction to another TC’er and I’m hoping they’ll provide us with a good scan. Here are the pics from the auction.

It’s cut off in the picture, but it says something about tiki mugs being available at the bar. So there WERE tiki mugs at Ports O’ Call.

Kenike - I used those renderings in my 'Tiki Architecture' seminar that I presented at the 2008 Hukilau on the last day (Sunday). I made up the posters and put them on display at the Mai Kai for closer inspection after my seminar was over.

I got the renderings from my good friend JonPaul who is out in LA. He has a fantastic story on how he came into possesion of those artworks, and I shared it at Hukilau.

I'm new here, so not sure if this is appropriate- just let me know- but my family lived in Dallas during the 70s. Port's o' Call was one of my father's favorite places, and where I first heard of "surf and turf". I only ate there once - my high school boyfriend took me to the Singapore room when he announced his appointment to the Naval Academy. The main thing I remember is that the place was freezing, and the boyfriend wasn't allowed to take off his suit jacket for me to wear. Instead, they loaned me one of the jackets they had for the men who didn't meet the dress code - I wasn't that thrilled. This was in 1973.